Major overnight fire at WC Rowe pasty factory in Falmouth: PICTURE and STATEMENT

Firefighters have been tackling a major fire all night at the WC Rowe factory in Falmouth.

Crews worked through the night to bring the blaze under control on the Bickland Industrial Park in Bickland Water Road.

The scene this morning shows smoke damage, peeling burnt paint and scorch marks on one side of the building. Soot stains can be seen at the front of the building, after smoke poured from the roof space.

It is understood that there were only a couple of staff at the site last night when the fire took hold and the alarm was raised.

The scale of the damage, and the impact of the fire on production is not yet clear.

Eight crews from Falmouth, Helston, Redruth, Camborne, St Keverne, Newquay and Perranporth, plus an aerial ladder platform from Truro and a command support unit from St Just were called out just after midnight.

The operation support vehicle from Falmouth and a water carrier from Wadebridge were also drafted in at the peak of the fire.

Crews wearing four sets of breathing apparatus used three jets to fire the fight in the 60m by 40m building, as the fire broke through the roof and it began to collapse.

As a result firefighting was taken to a safer distance, using the aerial ladder platform as a water tower.

Crews were deployed to tackle hotspots within the building just before 6am. Equipment included five jets and hosereels, the ladder platform, a thermal image camera and ten sets of breathing apparatus, together with a monitor watching from the ground.

An update on the fire service website at 7.45am reported "good progress" being made, with firefighters now tackling the fire wearing seven sets of breathing apparatus and using three jets and hosereels.

The incident was scaled down to three appliances at around 7.45am.

A fire investigation will be carried out later in the day to establish the cause.

A police spokesman confirmed that officers were informed by the fire service at 12.47am, but have not been asked to attend at this time.

In a statement released on its Facebook page, the company said: "Rowe’s Bakery can confirm late on Friday evening, a fire incident has occurred at our bakery in Falmouth

"The blaze has now been put out and we can confirm there have been no casualties

"Although we wait for the fire service to complete their investigations, there are no suggestions of any suspicious activity which may have led to the start of the fire

"We have been able to view the damage and can confirm the fire has been contained to a small area of the building.

"Rowe’s Bakery would like to express their gratitude to the fire crews who attended the incident. Without their efforts the results could have been far worse

"We have in place robust contingency plans for incidents such as this and are in the midst of implementing these to ensure none of our customers are affected .

"We are very confident to be fully operational again in a short space of time."

Did you see the drama unfold or get photos of the blaze? Please contact Packet news editor Emma Ferguson at emma.ferguson@packetseries.co.uk